there was hope for democracy in russia. putin has consolidated power and the difficult for democrats in russia to be able to have democratic government. that is the big worry. look at what russia and china have done in the united nations. they have made it difficult to slap sanctions on iran and to prevent iran from having a nuclear weapon. i have seen russian democracy slide backwards as long as putin in there. i think the russian people want democracy. putin is trying to be like the old russian leaders and trying to rule with an iron fist. i think it strangles russian democracy. we see less and less freedoms for the people. they are an important country. host: we have another tweet. host: you have nothing to do with this nomination. what a year thoughts about senator hagel? guest: if you start a precedent that you need 60 votes, i think that is a bad precedent. i've had some questions about senator hagel. majority should prevail. host: how would you vote? guest: i don't like hypothetical. once you start with this nominati